Amazing creature. Looking just at the head, I see a cat. Considered as a photograph, I find myself wanting more resolution. Whenever I try bird photography, I rediscover what a specialized craft skill it is.

I realise that Tony, living his life as he does upside-down, must be afforded some leeway; and that the rest of you, who drive on the wrong side of the road, call the pavement the sidewalk and the carriageway the pavement and who have a distressingly casual relationship with the letter "u", are also cut adrift from true civilisation. Even so, does none of you have any knowledge of one of the great whimsies of children's literature, Winnie the Pooh? The bear Winnie, the piglet and rabbit perhaps unimaginatively called Piglet and Rabbit, the kangaroo Kanga and her joey Roo, the donkey Eeyore and, last but not least, the owl, Wol? I'm appalled.

Ken, there's a little more detail to be had but you're right: I marvel all the more at Glenn's mastery.

Frank, it was taken in an owl sanctuary in Cumbria, north-west England.

Nice one and getting back to the question of species, it's an Eagle Owl.

I think I might even have gone to the same sactuary and shot (with camera of course) the same bird, stunning aren't they and now natural to the UK, as they have hopped over the channel from europe about 10 years ago and took up residence on MoD land I believe?

. . .does none of you have any knowledge of one of the great whimsies of children's literature, Winnie the Pooh? The bear Winnie, the piglet and rabbit perhaps unimaginatively called Piglet and Rabbit, the kangaroo Kanga and her joey Roo, the donkey Eeyore and, last but not least, the owl, Wol? I'm appalled.

Easy there Jeremy. I was a member of Pooh's entourage from the time I could talk. Pooh was read to me even before I could talk. I even started a Pooh club in my attic with some other kids.

As Frank pointed out, this version of Wol looks like a great horned, though I don't remember black on the local great horned I watched on her nest for a long time. In any case, here's her kid the morning he got kicked out of the nest. Next morning I heard the mom and kid across the river in the woods. I think she was teaching him to hunt.

Easy there Jeremy. I was a member of Pooh's entourage from the time I could talk. Pooh was read to me even before I could talk. I even started a Pooh club in my attic with some other kids.

I'm pleased to hear it. I know the booked reached the US because I read about the review Dorothy Parker (who I think it's fair to say wasn't an admirer of Milne's prose) gave it in her Constant Reader column in the New Yorker: "And it is that word 'hummy,' my darlings, that marks the first place in The House at Pooh Corner at which Tonstant Weader fwowed up."

A man approached a lawyer and asked "How much do you charge?". The lawyer replied "Five hundred bucks for three questions"."Wow!" said the man. "Isn't that rather a lot for just three questions?"The lawyer paused for a moment to think. "Yes. What's your third question?"

A man approached a lawyer and asked "How much do you charge?". The lawyer replied "Five hundred bucks for three questions"."Wow!" said the man. "Isn't that rather a lot for just three questions?"The lawyer paused for a moment to think. "Yes. What's your third question?"

Two lawyers were shipwrecked on a small desert island with just each other's company and a daily banquet of coconuts to keep them going.

One day they spot someone swimming ashore. They rush down the beach to investigate. As they get closer they see that it is an absolutely delicious blonde who has not even a stitch of clothing.

I believe Dave is correct, and it's a Eurasian Eagle Wol (much more rare than the Eagle Owl). Apparently owl sanctuaries in England have been doing a booming business since the end of the Harry Potter movies as more and more people have had to deal with the harsh realities of having an owl of whatever species as a 'pet'. (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hundreds-of-pet-owls-abandoned-after-840299)

BTW, an old friend of mine is a respected wildlife artist (http://www.debifitzgeraldartist.com/) and during one show she had a half-finished piece of a Great-horned Owl on display on an easel. One visitor was obviously enthused by the piece and couldn't find the words... And I quote: "Look at that owl! It's just so... it's so... FURRY!"

Mike.

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If your mind is attuned to beauty, you find beauty in everything.~ Jean Cooke ~